


so sudden and new

by glitteration



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Buffy AU, F/M, Matchmaking, background kabby since i'm hella on-brand even when i'm off-brand, feat. murphy being an asshole, this is ridiculously fluffy, trope-y af and unashamed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-10
Updated: 2018-08-10
Packaged: 2019-06-24 17:23:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,710
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15635262
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/glitteration/pseuds/glitteration
Summary: When Kane gets in on it, Clarke has to wonder if she’s slipped into an alternate universe.“So, you and Bellamy seem to be getting along better lately.”“Why does this keep happening?” Clarke brought her staff out of guard position and narrowed her eyes at Kane. “Is this Punk’d? Am I getting Punk’d?”“I don’t… know what that means, so I would assume no.”buffy au. in which everybody ships bellarke, but clarke's pretty sure that's only because somebody has been magically drugging the water again.





	so sudden and new

**Author's Note:**

> for the most wonderful caitlin, who is a beauteous ginger space unicorn and deserves only nice things
> 
> (MAC AND CHEESE PIZZA, MAN, IT'S GONNA BE REAL)

Bellamy Blake is a _problem_.

He’s a problem when he lurks in the back of the library and pretends to read even though he’s really judging Kane’s training methods (which, fine: Clarke does herself, pretty much literally all the time, but Kane’s _her_ Watcher so it’s entirely different than Bellamy’s silent asshole judging), he’s a problem when he tags along on patrol and needles Murphy, he’s a problem in the halls at school and he’s a problem dancing at Polis.

Most of all he’s a problem because it’s starting to feel like Arkadia has shrunk. Somehow he manages to be  _always around_ —and that's _before_ he moved into the bedroom down the hall.

“Mom, I don’t get why we had to have them move in with us  _indefinitely_.”

Abby raised a brow, pouring herself a cup of coffee. “Well, you did burn down Marcus’ house.”

“Octavia helped.” Clarke munched glumly on her cereal. She’d been the one to actually knock over the brazier, fine, but they’d both been there, and if Octavia hadn't been swinging her ax so wide Clarke wouldn't have even been near the stupid thing. A series of loud thumps issued from above them and signaled her partner in accidental arson had finally rolled out of bed. “See? Don’t tell me that isn’t making you a little crazy.”

“I hate to tell you this, but that’s exactly what you sound like when _you_ get up.”

“Do not.” Clarke wrinkled her nose and stuck her tongue out. “Nyeah-nyeah.”

“Honey, is something wrong?” Abby set down her cup and moved in closer, brushing Clarke’s shoulder with her hand. “It seemed like the easiest solution and I thought you might like having more people in the house again, but if it’s not working out I can help Marcus find a slightly more temporary replacement than he’d hoped for—”

“No, don’t.” She _had_ burned down Kane’s house, even if technically it was more the demon’s fault than hers. “It’s just…”

“Just what?”

“Bellamy is such a _dick_ ," she burst out. "He’s got a huge chip on his shoulder about… everything to do with me, really, but whenever I try and pay for anything he acts like _I’m_ the problem, he won’t knock off the ‘princess’ crap, and he always thinks he’s right. _And_ he nitpicks my form all the time. He even corrects Kane’s Latin.”

Abby smiled fondly. “I’m sure Marcus loves that.”

Kane’s half-proud, half-annoyed indigestion face when Bellamy corrected him was actually pretty great, but admitting that would mean admitting some of Bellamy’s habits aren’t entirely awful. “Anyway, he’s just always around, watching me and pretending he’s not.” She warmed to the topic, gesturing with her glass in righteous indignation. “And now he can make his judgemental faces at me in my own house. Last night he did it while I was brushing my teeth.” She deepened her voice and approximated his rasp. “‘No, Clarke, I’m not going to say anything, I’m just going to watch you floss and judge your dental habits in silence.’ It’s the worst.”

“I see.”

Clarke narrowed her eyes at her tone, spoon flinging milk droplets across the table when she pointed it accusingly at Abby. “Don’t do the mom voice, you see nothing. There’s nothing to see.”

“If you say so.” Abby hid her smirk behind her coffee cup. “It just seems like you might be missing the forest for the trees on this one.”

“What does _that_ mean?”

“Maybe,” Abby said delicately, “he was watching you because he likes looking at you and he doesn’t know how to tell you outright.”

Clarke’s jaw dropped. “You did _not_ just say that.”

“I’m afraid I did.”

“Well, you’re wrong.”

Abby nodded agreeably. “It has been known to happen.”

“You’re doing the voice again. I hate that voice. Plus, you’re entirely off-base, anyway.”

“You’re in luck: I have to get the hospital, so you’re saved from my mom torture for now.” She set her cup in the sink. “And Clarke?”

“Yeah?”

“I could be off-base, but I’m not.” She dropped a kiss on Clarke’s forehead and grabbed her purse. “Nyeah-nyeah.”

“Next time Kane starts muttering under his breath about never setting out to teach kindergarten, I’m telling _this_ is where I get it from.”

“Love you, honey. Have a good day, and I’ll see you tonight.”

“Love you too, mom.”

***

Raven is even less sympathetic to her plight.

“I mean, your mom’s right. He’s definitely got a thing for you, he just has zero game.”

Clarke stared at her, betrayed. “You too? You’re supposed to tell me I’m right and support me in my hour of need.”

“Oh boo-hoo, you might get to see a hot guy who likes you fresh out of the shower.” Raven tilted her head, forehead scrunched in thought. “It’s two for the price of one, really. Kane’s got a great butt for an old guy.”

“ _Gross_. Raven, he’s my watcher. Don’t put those images in my head.” Clarke stabbed at the congealed macaroni on her plate with a mournful sigh. “I don’t know why I thought my best friend would have my back on this.”

Raven grinned unabashedly and swirled her fries in ketchup, then took a giant bite and wiggled her eyebrows suggestively. “Your mom agrees with me.”

“ _Raven_!”

“Better get used to the idea, because she’s totally gonna hit that.”

“You’re way too into my mom’s hypothetical desire to have sex with my watcher.”

A crash swallowed Raven’s reply, and they both looked up.

Kane gawped at them, red up to the tops of his ears, a box of school supplies spread across the floor in front of them like the aftermath of some terrible office supply store massacre. “I’ll just…” He gestured vaguely at his classroom and fled, entirely ignoring the mess at his feet.

They stared after him for a moment, then Clarke turned back to Raven with an accusatory look. “I think you broke him.”

Raven shrugged, finishing off her last few fries. “Oops.”

***

Clarke glared down at the empty protein bar box in the pantry. Octavia said the oat-bran ones tasted like death, and mom and Kane said they _all_ sucked. That left a single, entirely predictable culprit.

She stalked up to Bellamy’s room, post-it pad in hand.

**_MY PROTEIN BARS ARE GONE AND I KNOW YOU ATE THEM you could at least throw away the box, you jerk. i want a new one ASAP or else_ **

Underlining ‘or else’ fifteen times may have been overkill but Clarke relished each stroke of the pen anyway, leaning into them so hard the paper developed little holes at the end of each letter.

When she came home from patrol she found four boxes of protein bars stacked in front of her door, a post-it stuck to the one on top. She peeled it off and found a few short sentences dashed off in Bellamy’s distinctive boxy handwriting.

**_guess you can’t or else me now. better luck next time, princess._ **

… _Well_. That had been strangely generous of him.

Clarke stared at the garish pink square and tried very, very hard not to be anything but annoyed about the stupid nickname.

***

“I hate slow nights.” Clarke pushed herself up on a tombstone and settled in for a quick sulk. “Let’s sit for a couple minutes, if we haven’t seen any vampires yet we’re probably just in a murder dry spell. It’ll pick up soon, once frat party season starts at Arkadia U.”

“Oh, good,” Octavia said dryly. “ _Undead_ douchebags.”

“Silver lining: these douchebags disintegrate when you stake them. The pre-dead ones aren’t that easy to deal with.”

Octavia brightened. “There is that.”

“Always stay positive, that’s my motto.”

Octavia rolled her neck from side to side until it cracked, then glanced over at Clarke with uncharacteristic hesitation. “This town… it’s not bad, actually. Way better than where me and Bell grew up.” Getting Octavia to talk about her past has generally been like pulling teeth from rabid hellhounds, so Clarke just nodded encouragingly and kept quiet. “Weather’s nice, we have a roof over our heads and lots of demons to kill… Anyway, it just doesn’t suck as much as I thought it did at first, is all.” She stared down at her sneakers, avoiding Clarke’s eyes. “Neither do you.”

“Don’t overwhelm me with compliments, or anything.” Octavia’s head jerked up and Clarke winked, waving off the rough wording. “Thanks. Seriously, thanks.”

“When we first got here, I kind of hated you. You had a nice house, great mom, watcher who gives a crap about you… You hit the lottery, and you didn’t even know it.” She sucked in one cheek, gnawing at her inner lip, and Clarke waited for the rest despite the unavoidable desire to defend herself. “Now, I don’t know. It’s kind of nice, not being the only one who gets it. Less alone.”

Clarke extended her leg as far as possible and nudged Octavia’s calf until she looked up. “I’m glad you’re here, too.” They sat in companionable silence for a few minutes before curiosity overwhelmed Clarke, and she chanced breaking the moment. “Not that I’m not happy we’re having a heart to heart, because I am, but… why are we having a heart to heart, exactly?”

Octavia rolled her eyes, like it should be obvious. “Because my brother likes you, and _he’s_ not going to man up and say anything about it.”

“...Oh.” Clarke blinked. “He told you that?”

“He doesn’t need to. I can tell.”

“Right.” She drummed her fingers on her thigh, trying her best to think past her minor internal meltdown. “I don’t… really know what to do with the Bellamy thing right now, so how about we stop talking about heavy stuff and go find something to kill?”

“ _Please_ , yes.”

***

It got easier to be nice to Bellamy, after that.

“Well-executed bellyflop, princess.”

“Bellamy, you know I can just let the next one eat you, right?”

Okay, nic _er_.

***

When Kane gets in on it, Clarke has to wonder if she’s slipped into an alternate universe.

“So, you and Bellamy seem to be getting along better lately.”

“Why does this keep _happening_?” Clarke brought her staff out of guard position and narrowed her eyes at Kane. “Is this Punk’d? Am I getting Punk’d?”

“I don’t… know what that means, so I would assume no.” Kane leaned his own staff against the table then pulled off his glasses to clean them, concentrating way too hard on rubbing every possible speck of dust away for it to be anything but a stalling tactic. “I simply thought I would mention I’m proud you’ve managed to find common ground. He’s very fond of you, and group harmony is important. They've done studies.”

“Uh- _huh_. Have you been reading those anti-bullying pamphlets again?”

“Yes, well.” He coughed. “They’re required as part of the district-wide initiative. And in this case, they happen to be correct.”

“ _Right_.” She drew out the i long enough to make him squirm and folded her arms across her chest. If the weird matchmaking conspiracy had reached _Kane_ , it was time to go with the nuclear option. “So, you and my mom seem pretty harmonious lately yourselves.”

Kane froze at her overly casual tone, then went tellingly scarlet. “...she and I have found a way to balance our demands on your time, yes.”

“Is that what the kids are calling it these days?”

He gaped, then grabbed his staff and held it up like a shield. “We should get back to your training.”

“Yeah, that’s what I thought.”

Kane’s thing for her mom might be a rapidly approaching train ready to squash her ability to not deal with what them hooking up would mean for all their lives, but that doesn’t mean she can’t shamelessly use it against him until it flattens her.

***

“Well, this book’s useless.” Murphy sat back in his chair with an ostentatious sigh, then cast a speculative glance Clarke’s way. “So, now that we're alone: when are you and Blake finally going to put us all out of our misery? The will they-won’t they has kind of worn out its welcome.”

“Excuse me?”

“You. Blake.” He made a vague but somehow still recognizably obscene hand gesture. “When are you guys going to get down to it?”

If it was anyone but Murphy, Clarke would have decked them. As it was, the punch she aimed at his shoulder would probably bruise a little. “Did _anyone_ ever teach you about boundaries? Or manners?”

“Okay, first: _ow_.” He clutched his shoulder and glared. “Second, I have money riding on this, so I’m just looking to speed things along. And manners are just another word for being full of crap.”

Clarke laughed, then sobered when she realized Murphy wasn’t laughing himself. “Wait, you really have a bet about me and Bellamy? With who?”

“Uh, everybody? We started a book ages ago, once you two started acting out the first half of slap-slap-kiss. Kane found it and pretended to disapprove, but he also put twenty down on it happening in March.”

Clarke buried her face in her hands. “As fascinating as all my friends being creeps in secret is, I’m not talking about this with you.”

He crowed in triumph. “Which means there’s something to talk about.”

“I did _not_ say that.”

“Well, I’m saying that if you give me a date I’ll kick a third of the pot your way.” She lifted her head and glared at him. “Fine, half, but that’s my final offer.”

“Shut _up_ , Murphy.”

***

Clarke hissed in pain, and Bellamy’s hands stilled in the middle of carefully applying antiseptic to the cut on her back. “You okay?”

“Yeah, it just stings a little.”

If possible, his touch got even lighter, and Clarke stifled a sigh. “Sorry about that.”

“No, it’s okay. You’re not the… whatever it was that tried to take a bite out of me. What did Kane say they were called, again?”

“A homja-maleev.”

“That’s the one.”

Bellamy applied a butterfly bandage with an air of finality and leaned back on his haunches. “It’s your lucky night; no stitches.”

“That’s me, the luckiest girl in the world.” Clarke sat up, then looked down at her sports bra and laughed nervously. “Good thing everybody else is grabbing food, they might see us and think all their weird conspiracy theories are true.”

Bellamy’s eyes shifted to the side, and he screwed up his face like she’d threatened to publish his browser history. “They’ve got conspiracy theories?”

“Yeah, they… you know. Keep trying to hook us up.” Clarke laughed, high and nervous. “They have this insane idea that you’re into me.”

Bellamy stiffened, his cheeks turning red under his tan and making his freckles stand out even more. “Oh.” He swallowed, hard, then shrugged. “I don’t know, doesn’t seem all that insane to me.”

“I know, they’re…” Clarke started to reply to the emphatic denial she expected then ran his words back, trying to make sense of them. “Wait, what?”

“It just doesn’t seem that crazy that someone would be into you.”

She rolled her eyes and tried to ignore the weird fluttering feeling in her stomach. “Not _someone_ , you.”

“I’m not somebody?”

“Oh my god, would you _just_ —” She took a fortifying breath. “Are you saying it’s not nuts because you, specifically, are into me?”

Bellamy opened his mouth and closed it again immediately, then scratched the side of his neck and bobbed his head fast enough she’s not entirely sure he didn’t give himself whiplash.

“Oh my god, Raven was right. You have absolutely no game.” Hurt flashed across his face, and Clark grabbed his wrist and pulled him close before he could turn away. “But it’s kind of working for me, honestly.”

“...Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

A smile slowly spread across his face, and he wrapped an arm around her waist. “So if I do this?”

“I would say that’s working for me too.”

His other hand tilted her chin up. “How about now?”

“Would you just shut up and kiss me already?”

He laughed, nose bumping hers. “I can do that.”

For a guy with zero game, Clarke mused as his mouth descended on hers, he sure knew how to kiss.

After that, she stopped thinking entirely.

**Author's Note:**

> part of a larger au i am (sing it with me if you know the words) not writing yet, where clarke is the slayer and octavia is called after she briefly dies, a la faith.


End file.
